The British government have announced that there will no ban on tobacco advertising for motor racing in the UK and have thus prevented a Europe wide ban.

The FIA have recently said that most European Grands Prix would be taken out of the calendar if this came to pass.

"We think tobacco sponsorship can be phased out in other sports over a period, but it just won't work with Formula One," the London Times quoted the Health Department as saying.

"The sport is world-wide and can move anywhere. With a ban we run the risk of driving Formula One to places where there is less of a tobacco-control regime. We can't stop television pictures coming back from the Grand Prix and there is a very real risk of there being more tobacco exposure in the pictures."

However, Britain leads the World in motor racing technology and engineering skills and it is thought that many jobs and hundreds of millions of pounds would have been lost if the ban was imposed. This is the most probable cause of the change of heart.